Oklahoma consumers would be able to purchase wine and high-strength beer in grocery and convenience stores, which would be a big plus for liberty. Want to be able to buy wine and six-point beer at the grocery store? Here’s your chance. The reform could result in certain grocers doing business in Oklahoma after holding out for years because of the state’s longstanding prohibition on grocers offering such products. As well, certain beers that have not previously been offered in Oklahoma for similar reasons – Fat Tire, anyone? – could now become available from in-state retailers. Also, traditional liquor stores would be able to refrigerate products, as well as offer products they are currently prohibited from selling, such as mixers, corkscrews, and the like.

If it fails (“NO” vote):

The status quo for Oklahoma’s alcohol retail laws would remain in place. To be sure, if passed, SQ 792 would result in disruption within Oklahoma’s alcohol industry. Some are concerned that passage of SQ 792 could result in unintended negative consequences in the price point charged by distributors, particularly in how this might affect the restaurant industry. Still, if SQ 792 fails to pass, the ability of Oklahoma citizens to access a host of products would continue to be restricted.

State Question 781: Directs cost-savings from sentencing reforms to local governments

If it passes (“YES” vote):

If SQ 780 passes, state prisons across Oklahoma would be expected to house fewer inmates, while county jails could be expected to house more, as offenders are housed closer to their families and to local treatment programs. SQ 781 would help ensure that a portion of the cost savings realized by state prisons would be passed on to county facilities.

If it fails (“NO” vote):

The systemic, cost-saving reform in SQ 780 would be severely frustrated in the implementation process. One of the key goals of SQ 780 – to allow local officials more flexibility to address local factors contributing to mental health and substance abuse issues – would be difficult, if not impossible, to realize.

State Question 780: Reduce taxpayer costs by changing sentencing from felony to misdemeanor for simple drug possession, other nonviolent crimes

If it passes (“YES” vote):

The proposal will likely result in significant cost savings for the taxpayers who fund Oklahoma’s criminal justice system, particularly in the area of incarceration and imprisonment. Similar reforms in other states, most notably in Texas, have resulted in major cost savings. Many proponents of the reform suggest such a move would allow Oklahoma’s criminal justice system to focus more on those individuals “who we are truly afraid of,” rather than those “who we are merely mad at.” By no longer classifying simple drug offenses as felonies, harsh prison sentences for such crimes are expected to be reduced.

If it fails (“NO” vote):

Oklahoma’s judicial and corrections system will continue to treat simple drug offenses in what many believe to be an overly excessive manner. The status quo on simple drug offenses in Oklahoma will hold firm. Many believe this status quo, as opposed to an emphasis on drug courts and rehabilitation, to be too often a determining factor in Oklahoma’s abnormally high rate of female and minority incarcerations. Such negative trends have been credited with the breakup of many families up and down the socioeconomic scale throughout Oklahoma.

We intend to send an updated watch list to legislators whenever changes are made to the list. We also intend to track and score committee and floor votes on bills included in the final scorecard. [For more on OCPA Impact’s scorecard of how legislators voted in Oklahoma’s 2015 session, click here.]

We intend to send an updated watch list to legislators whenever changes are made to the list. We also intend to track and score committee and floor votes on bills included in the final scorecard. [For more on OCPA Impact’s scorecard of how legislators voted in Oklahoma’s 2015 session, click here.]

A top priority for OCPA Impact has been for Oklahoma to hold firm on not implementing the optional expansion of Medicaid prescribed by the Affordable Care Act (“ObamaCare”).

To her credit, Gov. Mary Fallin has maintained Oklahoma will not adopt Medicaid expansion (link).

As pointed out by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (link), Medicaid expansion would cost Oklahoma taxpayers hundreds of millions in additional dollars, as thousands of able-bodied, childless adults with income under 133% of the federal poverty level would be added to this federal entitlement.

Unlike most federal entitlements, Medicaid, while funded in part by the federal government, is primarily administered by state governments.

A recent piece in the Wall Street Journal (link) is a stark reminder that states that have accepted the ACA’s Medicaid expansion to increase enrollments have seen billions of dollars in unanticipated cost overruns.

Now, state government bureaucrats in Oklahoma want to use the current $1.3 billion state government budget shortfall as an excuse to squeeze in a re-branded version of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion (link).

The Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the state’s Medicaid agency, is pushing what it calls its “Medicaid Rebalancing” plan. A proposed 150% tax increase on cigarettes (link), which OCPA Impact opposes (link), is intended to fund the plan.

In a recent Journal Record column (link), OCPA’s Jonathan Small stated that the OHCA’s “Rebalancing” plan is, in fact, ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion:

“With this attempt, OHCA bureaucrats have tried to box policymakers in by using a set of public relations tactics. First, the OHCA warned the Medicaid program may end. Then, the OHCA declared Medicaid (a taxpayer-funded entitlement program) the largest health insurer in the state. Then, the OHCA warned of cuts to the program, by way of provider cuts of 25 percent. Of course, the media ran with that story, stoking frenzy.”

More:

“Nearly 27 percent of Oklahomans were enrolled in the Medicaid program during the most recent fiscal year according to the OHCA. If they get their way with their plan, then nearly 33 percent of Oklahomans will have their health care paid for nearly in full by government. This wouldn’t even take into account Medicare.

“Without the ACA Medicaid expansion, Oklahoma’s spending on Medicaid has grown largely because of the number of people on the program and previous expansions proffered by OHCA.

“Now, to swindle policymakers into a proposal that will incentivize people to decrease work and drop private health care coverage to gain subsidies, OHCA bureaucrats say their plan should be tried because they will release some currently on the Medicaid program to the treacherous, federally funded Obamacare exchange.

More:

“Expanding government health care or welfare programs is bad policy and short-sighted whether oil is $100 a barrel or $30 a barrel. This is just a planted and dangerous distraction from lawmakers prioritizing spending in a tough budget year and providing the pay raise for teachers that they should by the end of this legislative session.”

Unfortunately, the response from state bureaucrats has been to propose increasing the number of Oklahomans dependent on government for their health care and increasing our state’s dependency on federal dollars.

The OHCA’s “Rebalancing” plan is not intended to merely maintain Oklahoma’s current Medicaid levels. Rather, it would increase by at least 175,000 the number of Oklahomans enrolled in government-funded health care.

Thankfully, other routes are available. OCPA Impact has already helped successfully promote reforms, proven elsewhere — including in Florida and Louisiana — to reform Medicaid in Oklahoma. The goal should be to bring down the cost curve for taxpayers and increase sustainability without reducing quality of service for people eligible for the program.

OCPA Impact’s 2015 legislative scorecard (link) featured House Bill 1566, which Gov. Fallin signed into law to begin these reforms in Oklahoma. But the OHCA has been slow to implement the measure.

An additional option would be for Oklahoma lawmakers to use a portion of the investment earnings from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) to provide stopgap funding for health facilities outside the metro areas that are truly in need in Oklahoma’s current economic climate.

OCPA Impact will continue working to help keep ObamaCare’s costly Medicaid expansion out of Oklahoma.

We intend to send an updated watch list to legislators whenever changes are made to the list. We also intend to track and score committee and floor votes on bills included in the final scorecard. [For more on OCPA Impact’s scorecard of how legislators voted in Oklahoma’s 2015 session, click here.]

We intend to send an updated watch list to legislators whenever changes are made to the list. We also intend to track and score committee and floor votes on bills included in the final scorecard. [For more on OCPA Impact’s scorecard of how legislators voted in Oklahoma’s 2015 session, please click here.]

Below please find an updated list of bills OCPA Impact is watching for potential use in the legislative scorecard we will release following Oklahoma’s 2016 legislative session. Several bills have been added to the list.

We intend to notify legislators when bills are added to the watch list, prior to votes on those bills. We also intend to track and score committee and floor votes on bills included in the final scorecard. [For more on OCPA Impact’s scorecard of how legislators voted in Oklahoma’s 2015 session, please click here.]

Below please find an updated list of bills OCPA Impact is watching for potential use in the legislative scorecard we will release following Oklahoma’s 2016 legislative session. Several bills have been added to the list.

We intend to notify legislators when bills are added to the watch list, prior to votes on those bills. We also intend to track and score committee and floor votes on bills included in the final scorecard. [For more on OCPA Impact’s scorecard of how legislators voted in Oklahoma’s 2015 session, please click here.]

To search for more info on any of these bills, please visit the Oklahoma Legislature’s bill search tool.